'Danger' Akuku Dies and Leaves Behind 100 WidowsAncentus Akuku Was Nicknamed 'Danger' Because He Was Irresistable to Women

By DANA HUGHES
NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenya's most prominent polygamist has died having married more than 100 women in his lifetime and fathered nearly 200 children. Nicknamed "Danger" because women were so attracted by his handsome looks, Ancentus Akuku was in his late 90's when he passed away of natural causes.

Akuku Danger was legendary in Kenya. He married his first wife in 1939 and became polygamist some 70 years ago at the age of 22. He's outlived 12 of his wives, marrying the last one in 1992. There were so many children in his family that Akuku established two elementary schools solely to educate his children, as well as a church for his growing family to attend.

In past interviews Akuku told local journalists he was responsible for naming all of his children, as way to bond with them.

His death was the number one topic of Kenyan media today. Radio stations featured call-in shows of people, especially men, paying their respects. In many tribes having several wives was a sign of wealth and status for a man. Danger Akuku represented the ultimate symbol of traditional manhood -- and of a time when gender relations seemed more simple than today.

wow, I am impressed he took care of his nearly 200 children; but....
I'd really like to know what he did for a living.

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Here's an older article...

Tuesday, 29 February, 2000, 17:58 GMT
Polygamist marries 100 times

Ancentus Akuku is known as Danger Akuku

By Cathy Jenkins in western Kenya

Ancentus Akuku, 81, has so many wives and children they need a new building to be able to worship together. The family has built a church for itself.

...
Among the Luo tribe of western Kenya, polygamy is a tradition to which the church has quietly turned a blind eye.

Even so, Mr Akuku is an exception. He has married more than 100 times, divorced more than 30 women and his most conservative estimate is that he has 160 children.

"I'm called Danger because I defeated so many men," he says. "I was very handsome and so I could get many wives.

"When I passed, people would point at me and call me Danger."

Lucrative business

For a Luo man the richer he was the more wives he could have. And Mr Akuku is considered very rich indeed. He owns a fleet of taxis, driven by his sons. And that is not all.

In one street trading centre you will see a general store run by one of his sons and a tailor's run by a daughter. So prolific has Mr Akuku been in the business of marriage and reproduction his family has spread like a spider's web through the area. Mr Akuku can look at a place like this and call it his own.
Mr Akuku says he has at least 160 children

Managing the family is a full-time affair. When Mr Akuku visits his son-in-law it is for a serious talk. Nicholas Otieno married Mr Akuku's daughter a decade ago, but he still has not paid the full dowry of 10 head of cattle. Mr Akuku wants the balance.